Malta: archbishop Scicluna, “if we say we have a heart of flesh, then we cannot forget the refugees in the island’s centres where there’s coronavirus”

“Charity can really begin at home. But it’s not sure where home should end, especially for Christians, and Easter is a time of reflection and renewal, which calls everyone to ask a fundamental question to ourselves: do we want to have a heart of flesh or a heart of stone?”: this is a passage from the reflection published today on the newspaper “The times of Malta” and written by the archbishop, Charles Scicluna. After describing Covid-19 as “our cross”, the disruption it has caused, the wounds it is leaving behind, the archbishop’s pain, even his personal pain, at having had to “celebrate Easter in a virtually empty chapel”, mgr. Scicluna writes that “if we say we have a heart of flesh, then we cannot forget the refugees, crowded in Malta’s centres, where there’s a coronavirus outbreak”. And then, “if we say we have a heart of flesh, we cannot forget the other human beings – including children – who are in distress at sea around us”. “Saving lives can never be considered an option”, the prelate goes on, “it is a moral imperative that cannot be negotiated and cannot be given up. If we have a heart of flesh, then we must admit that the affected migrants are our brothers and sisters too”. “The Church will keep on doing what it has been doing for many years, providing our resources to migrants in distress”, states the archbishop, who asks the EU to “do more to support the poor nations and their citizens”.
Valentina Bombelli